For a Hardware Startup, Version 2.0 Is 'Made in America'

A San Francisco entrepreneur moves manufacturing from China to the Bay Area, and the twist is that production is cheaper here.

Entrepreneur Lisa Q. Fetterman has been so successful at running crowd-funding campaigns that she now teaches others how to do it.

The CEO of Nomiku, she raised nearly $600,000 in 30 days on Kickstarter and a seed round in Silicon Valley to fund the launch of the world’s first sous vide immersion circulator for home kitchens. (For non-chefs, it’s sort of like a gourmet slow cooker with very precise temperature controls.)

CEO Lisa Fetterman (second from right) and the team from Nomiku. The San Francisco company recently moved its manufacturing from China to Oakland.

Now Fetterman is running a Kickstarter campaign to fund Version 2.0 of the cooker, which is equipped with WiFi.

It will be made in America.

“We prototyped Version 1.0 in China, which involved going to the market in Shenzhen, soldering the pieces we needed together, and sending the CAD drawings out to a prototyping factory,” says Fetterman.

A huge drawback was the expense: CNC’ing one part in China cost as much as $300, while a complete prototype ran upwards of $5,000. You don’t have to be an engineer to know that kind of math doesn’t work out for a machine that’s priced at $249.

Working to cut the cost to manufacture Version 2.0, Fetterman says there were hard-won lessons from the first go-round. “There was too much cost and complexity: Our first-generation model has over 100 parts and 15 parts that move. It doesn't take an engineer to see the issues that can arise from that.”

Version 2.0 is WiFi-enabled and features only three moving parts: knob, motor, and clip. It has a rounded, rectangular shape with a thin, sleek profile.

Version 2.0 of Nomiku's sous vide immersion cooker has only three moving parts and a sleeker design than the original, reducing manufacturing costs substantially.

The biggest change, however, is the move to manufacture and assemble the parts in the United States.

“We’re fortunate that companies are springing up here on the West Coast that have 3D machines that can mold new materials like SLS Nylon, polycarbonate, and elastomers for flexible parts. A prototype now costs us only around $600, and we get it with fast turnaround because we get them printed right over in Oakland.”

A big appeal of local manufacturing, in addition to tighter quality control, is the ability to play with many materials, although the heat-resistant ones hold the most interest. Fetterman says she uses different 3D printing processes depending on the need: tougher SLS for higher-fidelity parts; FDM for the lower-fidelity, rough prototypes; Polyjet for high-resolution cosmetic parts.

Her advice for avoiding unnecessary hassles in the production process? “Less parts = less headache. Call up a factory and have that collaboration be a part of your prototyping process. And keep your sense of humor.”

“We once went to a factory in China that's named 'Inability to Express,'" Fetterman said, giggling at the memory. “We laughed until we could not anymore.”

"Keep your sense of humor," Fetterman advises. This Chinese manufacturing company's name ""Inability to Express Hardware Appliance Company Ltd." still cracks her up.

Lisa Fetterman’s Kickstarter campaign for Version 2.0 of her newly designed sous vide immersion circulator runs through Thursday, September 11, 2014, at 6:43 a.m. CDT. Currently she is just $58,000 shy of her stretch goal of $750,000.

I have a few points to differ with in this article. First of all, CNC'ing metal parts vs. 3D printing plastic or powder metallurgy-based materials are completely different things and each have their own advantages. With a 3D CAD model of the part, generating the CNC machine readable G-codes is quite straight forward and does not consume as much time as it used to in yesteryears with 2D drawing & tool path generation. With good tooling operations, everything can be setup on the CNC machine including removing metal burrs (deburring). These result in part cost about 10 to 15% above material costs in volumes. Using large size material blanks (depending on the part dimensions), one can machine multiple parts in one setup. Any day, I would prefer CNC-machined part over "3D printed" ones for part reliability and performance. So the statement on CNC'ing one part in China cost as much as $300 may not be telling the whole story. Or they could have gone to a machine shop named "Inability to Express" and might have incurred unnecessary expenses!

I am happy to note that the company chose Oakland, CA over other places in the US (sorry Texans!). Besides these feel good vibes initially, what I would really like to know is how the company going to source its finished goods in the longer run when volumes pickup.

Good story. I enjoyed reading it. It's amazing what 3D printing can do. I see they made the prototype here at the 3D printing house in Oakland, but they claim to be manufacturing it in the US, too. Where and how will they manufacture the actual product?